new amp day this week

for so many years I have dealt with amp heads that have weighed a ton.MESA/PEAVY/KUSTOM..etc.Then PA amps BGW/A-B/Mackie...

I would never have thought my rack was too heavy but after last weeks show trying to pull it out of the trunk I said no more.the mackie1400i is/has been a fantastic unit, never giving me a bit of problem, but itself weighing in at 36lbs with the rack on top of that is just too much and I'm getting too old for this ****. My Hartke 4x10 weighs less..lol

Someone was selling off a ton of PA gear and I finally bought something reasonable.I cannot afford a new "micro bass head" and would not buy one anyway because I like PA gear for my wattage.So for 300 shipped I bought a brand new crown XLS1500 - 10lbs and the same output and crossover/bi amp capability as the mackie.I was gonna take his XLS1000 but he said since I like the 8/4 ohm wattage from my mackie 1400i the 1500 would be more comparable.

I hope it arrives before the feb 4th show

the new band has a LOT of gigs this year already booked so screw it, no more backbreaking stuff for me.

I'm also pondering a rig upgrade this year, since it looks like I will finally have some capital to do it with. But I'm now leaning heavily towards Marshall gear, since I've heard a ton of praises about the tone, and it would be cool if our band had an entire backline of Marshall gear. Andy uses two JCM800 heads into a couple of their 4x12's, so I'm now thinking of their 450-watt head into their 8x10 for my lows, and some sort of guitar half-stack for my distortion. If I can swing it, I might go with a JCM800. The only drawback would be the weight, but I'm still seriously considering doing this.

Eric, I have a lot of thought in this. Sure it would be a BIG upgrade to do what your looking at doing, and I would love every minute of it..A friend wanted to sell me his Ampeg that I have been using at our practice place:

I've been thinking about selling my SUNN PA rig and replacing it with a nice Markbass setup. I've been GASing for one of those since I played one in a Guitar Center sometime late in 2003. It's a shame that those rigs are so expensive though, I'd have bought it then and there if it didn't cost more than my car.

the ONLY bitch is the hipass filter only goes down to 51hz, pretty stupid if your trying to use the amp for subs, cause the mackie was adj from zero to 3.5k so screw it I turned it on bypass mode and it sounds the same as the mackie to me but sub-harmonics will toss the speakers in the junk so I'll put the 30hz EQ control to neg 15db. everything else is pretty much settable like the mackie, probably gets as loud as the mackie but I won't know till I'm playing with the band.xlr or RCA inputs only were no problem because I already had adapters so it was plugged in in 5 minutes and running.AAAAAAAHHHHHH that new electronics smell on the first heat-up

since nothing else changed it still sounds like me...lolso from 68lbs total rack weight to 42 and now I can pick the thing up easily

so eventually I'll ebay the mackie(s) I have 2 of them and use my BGW, SHS or HAFLER amp as a backup as the "just in case" spare.

Last edited by amimbari on Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:38 am; edited 1 time in total

ya the gig was free since we only played a set but it will be a memorable one for a few reasons.my69 had a cancellation and we volunteered since the bar is 15 minutes from here.

first gig with the new ampfirst gig in years where I got to play with a longtime friend Ken, who is also not in the current band ( the one on the right not the one behind me in this shot )codewhiskey lost their bassplayer last week, and their other guitarplayer had to watch his kid, so Mike the singer asked me and Ken, we both said yes and....

well this year is the year of downsizing right?...that pic before was my 8 space rack, now I have a 6 space rack and next is a 4 space rack just the amp and the "new toy for 100 bucks"

as soon as I figure out how to use it fully...lol the manual sucks but there is a thread on TB that explains it much better and I have been cutting posts and printing them in a guide that will help me set up all the presets and stuff.ERIC, I was gonna buy a pedalboard/effect last year if you remember, but nope, this is what I need.I messed with it last night at practice and wow it does a lot and is totally silent when cranking up the gain.

so in the near future I'll buy a 4space rack and all that will be in it will be the VAMP and the Crown.ALSO someone on CL had a HArtke transporter 4x10 like the one I own now and I am going over to pick it up tonight for 150 bucks, so I'll have a fullstack again ( just like the old metal playing days ) -- will I ever use it? YES we have a bunch of outdoor shows coming up this summer and the 4x10 won't cut it.

I think the XL cabs used larger v.coils on the aluminum cones as they are rated at 400watt, and the old TP's are 200, but mike I have thrown quite a lot more than 200 into mine more times than I could count and never had an issue except for farting, then I just back off like any logical person would do. The cab I own is at least 20 years old.

the newer "old" TP410 is 300watts with dual 1/4 on the back, mine is 200 with 1 jack, so I'm curious as to what this one has on the back that I'm picking up tonight.

I had one of those Behringer V-Amp pre's, and I am going to get me another one for our studio. It was the only bass preamp that our drummer/engineer Doug really liked. I agree with MadMike. It is probably the nicest piece of bass gear Behringer now makes. I let my original one go because I needed the cash, and I have kicked myself ever since.

i really liked my transporters. simple and effective. the only reason i got rid of them is the need for more wattage and belief that i could get something better with something else. without spending thousands ... false. wattage being my issue, i shoulda taken those transporter cabs and dropped higher wattage drivers in em. my current is the xl 210 with carvin 10's and a seismic with a carvin 15".

next time, i'm just going all mesa. i mean with everything. triple rec. that 15410 cab. i'm looking for a guitar tube combo 212 or 210 as well.

since I just bought this 6space rack ( and now I need a 4..lol ), I'm actually disappointed in the "tuner", it reminds me of one of those boss pedals and that sucks... STILL yet another tuner that is nowhere near the sensitivity/accuracy of the KORG.

I made a couple patches last night, but couldn't play loud enough to really see the tone so this weekend I'll be in the garage cranking it up The line mixer is still there because the DI out of the VAMP is not independently adjustable AND there is no balance control on the L+R output despite it being a stereo effect. ( that is the green cable and adapter out of the headphone jack as my post-effect DI ) And just in case it craps out at a gig I always have my small mixer and a digitech BP50 in my bag to use into another channel of that linemixer to use as a emergency preamp if it "were" to happen.

Last edited by amimbari on Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:18 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : changed picture)

that 1500 only puts out 300watts at 8ohms Mike, it'll never blow up the speakers using it that way.I'll use my bridge cord sometime in the future and "play" Eric's 1x15 spends more time in my car trunk as a sub until we have a gig.

We only have 2 so far in April, but have a bunch of outdoor shows coming, so the 8x10 will get used for sure, but for the indoor bar gigs, naw, just the 4x10 and the 1x15.

I'm gonna have to go ask Larry Hartke on TB in one of his threads what years those things were made, as the logo's are different.

thanks johnny-c, yea I'm more of a "I found my tone" kinda guy and all the weird effects are not anything thrilling, but as I play with it more and more, I'll create some goofy sounding patches that may come in handy in the future since this new band plays pop, and theres a lot of keyboard bass I'm just playing ON the bass.

years ago when I switched from a bass head-mono to a power amp/rackmixer for stereo I can use the pan controls and send left-right with one clean one effect or any combo. Again, for what I'm doing it is not a dealbreaker or necessary to run different sounds into different cabs to blend on stage, and I do very little recording anymore where it would be used.

I just found a used Rolls midi-buddy pedal for under 100 to complete it, as pushing the buttons on the unit would get old real quick.

It's funny. Our drummer/engineer Doug is a total gear-head, and has a lot of aversion to the Behringer name. But he told me that he has NEVER found a better bass sound for me during recording than he did with my old Behringer preamp.

In the next two weeks, I'll be getting another one to throw into our studio gear.

certainly not a preamp/effects for everyone but there is a big following on TB for the things and if they were just plain junk everyone would let you know about it in all the posts that talk about them.

Yes it went thru it's stages when all they had was the line6 POD and the original VAMP which failed miserably, but any unit made within the past 5-7 years has a very small failure rate.

AND it still maintains the "affordable" solution to those who cannot afford a 500.00 unit. rivaling the line6 x3 and HD version which is around 500 bucks.